


Danger Watch

by SunshineHeroSol



Series: Danger Watch Universe [6]
Category: American Dragon: Jake Long, Ben 10 Series, Glitch Techs (Cartoon), My Life as a Teenage Robot, Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Avengers - Freeform, Crossover, Superheroes, Team Up, mcu - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-15
Updated: 2021-03-14
Packaged: 2021-03-17 13:01:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 17,768
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29472117
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SunshineHeroSol/pseuds/SunshineHeroSol
Summary: Sometimes, you can't do it alone! When the dangerous Cluster and the villainous Vilgax threaten the Earth, its greatest heroes team up to stop them. Join Jake Long, Ben 10, Steven Universe, XJ-9, and the Glitch Techs as they come together from disparate walks of life to achieve the impossible, changing the world forever... (Danger Watch: Phase 1, Book 6)
Series: Danger Watch Universe [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1755103
Kudos: 6





	1. The Scales Tip

**THE STORY THUS FAR…**

**Jake Long: The American Dragon - #1**

The dragon powers that were Jake's birthright manifested, and he used them to combat the sinister Huntsclan, foiling their plans. For now.

**XJ-9 and the Glitch Techs - #2**

One year earlier, Hinobi Tech agents Miko and Five stumbled upon a strange alien probe: a Red Eye. Together with the android XJ-9 (or "Jenny") they defeated a dangerous robot, and began to prepare for a potential alien threat.

**Steven Universe - #3**

Alerted by the Red Eye's signal, Jasper and her crew arrived on planet earth, only to be met with staunch resistance from the Crystal Gems. The hand ship was destroyed, and the Homeworld forces scattered.

**Ben 10: Origins - #4**

Unbeknownst to the gems, another ship had followed them through hyperspace. It belonged to Vilgax, an alien set on acquiring a powerful alien device. A device that Ben just so happened to get stuck on his wrist.

**Steven Universe 2 - #5**

As Steven trained in his gem powers, he learned more about his past, and the gems began to learn about the Cluster. A dangerous superweapon that could destroy the earth…

**And now…**

**Phase One, Book Six**

**Chapter One - The Scale's Tip**

As the second bug splatted against his scaly snout, Jake immediately wished he was back in bed. As August waned and September reared its ugly head in the distance, the mornings were growing colder and colder in New York City; and the people were growing crankier. It was early, and Jake yawned. While he was certainly up before his normal wake-up call, any thoughts of drowsiness were doused by the chill of the wind.

Jake's grandfather had roused him bright and early this Saturday to help him run his errands. For any normal grandfather, that meant visiting the local shop-keeps and chatting far too much while picking up things like prunes and denture fluid. For Lao Shi, errands were an entirely different beast. First of all, they had a variety of potions to deliver to members of the magical community, and then after that, they had to see a satyr about a creature in his cornfields. Jake, upon taking his draconic form, was laden with various leather satchels and harnesses. Lao Shi then loaded him up with a heavy burden of bottles, which clinked and clanked in his precarious care.

"Alright, be careful, kid," Lao Shi's talking Sharpei, Fu Dog, had said. "The fizzy green ones are for the mermaid on 6th ave. She needs 'em to breathe atmosphere, and they also help her keep her legs. She, uh, she's got lovely legs... So don't drop 'em, huh?"

After recalling Fu Dog's uncouth behavior, Jake shook his head back to the present. He glanced down at the fizzing green potions, secured in the satchel on his right flank. Then, he turned to sight Lao Shi. The old man was also in dragon form, a spiraling serpent of midnight purple, with wisps of white cloud circling around him. There was something ancient, powerful, and majestic about the Dragon's form. Luckily, Jake thought, they were flying so early, and so high up. In this shape, Lao Shi was over 20 feet long. It might have been hard to hide that from Manhattan in the middle of a clear day.

Stepping on the gas, Jake flew faster to catch up with the regal spiral of his instructor, and soon they were flying side by side. Jake was smaller than Lao Shi, though nothing to scoff at, with a powerful 9 feet of red-scaled draconic muscle. As he caught up to him, Jake turned to the purple wyrm.

"So, what's the deal with the satyr?" The younger dragon asked, as they soared towards 6th Avenue.

"One obstacle at a time," Lao Shi said, as they began the most gut-wrenching part of flying through New York: landing.

In Jake's experience, there were a few ways to land. It was easiest when he stayed in his dragon's form. The claws and retainment of his wings and tail meant that he could steer his momentum, and would have a solid grip and a sense of balance wherever he landed. The hardest way to land was what he had christened a "dragon drop," after a move from Mortal Kombat.

Starting from the sky, he (or in this case, Lao Shi) would check the ground with their enhanced vision, making sure nothing would be in the way. Then, the dragon in question would wrap their wings around themselves like a sleeping bat. This would cause them to plummet. While falling, the trick was to rapidly transform your body (but crucially, not the wings) back into human form. This way, they become much smaller and relatively less noticeable. The hardest part of the drop? At the last second, before becoming a bug splat on pavement, one had to flare out the wings like a parachute. This slowed their pace, and allowed them to finish their transformation, as well as their landing, with a graceful glide.

After years of doing "dragon drops", Lao Shi was obviously a proven master of it. While not fancy or by any means flashy, he was fully capable of pulling off the maneuver. Jake was... new to the technique.

"AAAAAAAAAAAaaahhhhhHH!"

"Do not forget your wings, young one!" Lao Shi called up to the freefalling boy from atop the roof he had landed on.

Luckily for Jake, he didn't, and at the last possible moment, the brick-red wings flung out to either side, bringing him skidding to a haphazard stop on the paved rooftop. He finally stopped sliding in a heap at Lao Shi's feet. The dragon master looked down at Jake, and chuckled, before helping him up as the boy's wings faded away.

"That's way harder than a laser flip," Jake muttered.

"You will find that learning to maneuver the Dragon's form is not the same as maneuvering a… _skateboard._ "

"They're not _that_ different," Jake started to say, but noting the look from Lao Shi, he let it drop.

The duo waited around for a few minutes before the door to the building below opened, and a middle aged woman stepped out. She was gangly, pretty, and suntanned, wrapped up in a long cardigan and looking dewy in the cheeks as she approached.

"Oh, Dragon, thank goodness you're here," she said. Then, she smiled at Jake. "I see you're finally training the apprentice!"

"A pleasure as always, Ms. Silver," Lao Shi said politely. Then, he gestured to Jake, who quickly handed over the large satchel of potions. Ms. Silver accepted them with a warm smile, but she quickly looked puzzled when she began to examine the satchel's contents.

"Oh, hey," she said, taking out a handful of the little green bottles. "You gave me more than I need."

"Keep it," Jake said with a shrug. "For when you run out."

Ms. Silver smiled, and then shook her head firmly.

"Your charity is promising, young dragon, but no… I have to move on from this life. This might be my final dose. I knew I'd have to face the sea again some day."

"We will be here to help you when you do," Lao Shi insisted, which lifted some of the worry from the mermaid's face. She pressed the extra potions further into Jake's hands, and after a permissive nod from his grandfather, he accepted them.

"Maybe you'll find some use for them. They let you breathe things you normally can't," Ms. Silver said. Jake doubted it. When would he ever need to breathe something other than air? "Anyway, I should run. I have a class to teach this morning. Thanks again, Dragon, and good luck, young one!"

With that she was gone, and Jake and Lao Shi were left on the rooftop. The old man took one glance at the rising sun, stretched, and prepared to take on the Dragon's form once more. Jake mirrored him, understanding that the city was already coming alive. Their time of free flying was over. They would have to keep above the clouds to stay out of sight. So they did, soaring over miles of land before the older dragon spotted their destination: a solitary farmhouse on the edge of a wide field of corn. Luckily, they were far enough away from the urban masses that no dragon drops were required. The two dragons simply landed in the backyard.

As they were shifting back into humans, Jake found a bit of satisfaction in realizing that he was hardly even winded. Even after a few hours of flying and switching forms, he was only just beginning to feel like he was breaking a sweat. Grinning to himself at the thought of his progress, Jake's attention was seized by the newcomer who was walking out of the back door of the farm house.

From the waist up, he was an unremarkable man. Tan skin, a rough patch of hair under his lip, and a mop of wide curls. However, as Jake's view panned down past the plaid button-up, he realized that those were not, as he had suspected, furry pants. In fact, they weren't pants at all, but shaggy hindquarters. From the waist down, the man bore the wooly legs of a mountain goat; he was a satyr. Lao Shi dipped his head in greeting, and the satyr responded in kind before raising an eyebrow at Jake.

"Morning, Mr. Dragon," the satyr said. "You're just in time."

He gestured across the cornfield, and Jake and Lao Shi followed his hand. For a moment, there was nothing but corn. Then, some of the furthest cornstalks began to waver and shake as if blown by the wind. Jake, however, knew that there was no such breeze. He had just been flying through the air for several hours, and his draconic instincts gave him a generally good understanding of wind patterns. The young dragon's confusion grew, until a low, rumbling sound made its way to his ears. Then, in an explosive upheaval of soil and cornstalks, the source of the satyr's strife presented itself.

It was tall, maybe 10 feet tall; a mass of multi-colored limbs that flailed as it flung itself up from whatever burrow it had been submerged in. Lao Shi immediately threw up an arm to shield the satyr from any harm. Then, the old man turned to Jake. who nodded, and dashed forward. The monster had landed now, and was tearing through the cornfield, uprooting crops abound as it barreled towards the trio at the farmhouse. With a quick shift of his hands and feet, Jake began to channel a fiery energy.

" _Dragon Up!"_ Jake shouted his catch phrase with enthusiasm. The energy flared up, and then he had transformed back into the powerful form of the red dragon.

Just in time! Jake flung up his claws to stop the rampaging monster, and found that it was hard to get a proper grip on it. It had no shoulders, no torso, not even a face that Jake could decipher. As the horrific creature writhed against him with surprising strength, Lao Shi shouted advice from behind him.

"A well placed strike to the center mass should dispel the physical form!"

"Got it!" Jake said.

By that point, he had planted his feet firmly, digging his back claws into the tilled soil. This gave him the traction needed to twist the monster in an unceremonious loop, winding up momentum before throwing it far out across the corn field. Then, as soon as he had released his grip, Jake shot up into the air, rocketing forward towards the pastel assailant. It landed on its back, its limbs sprawled about like an endangered spider.

"Here goes nothin'!" Jake shouted, as he let the air out from beneath his wings and came flying down towards the monster from above. He reared back a scaled fist, and, using the force of his fall as added power, slammed a mighty punch into the core of the monster. Then, like some horrific fly trap, its limbs all closed in around Jake at once.

The satyr gasped, but Lao Shi watched on with determination. If things escalated further, he would intervene. However, he trusted the instincts and training of his grandson and disciple. His faith in his student was not misplaced, as there was a loud _ka-poof!_ The spider-like monster vanished in a burst of thick, white smoke. A figure within the cloud reared its wings back, dispelling the bulk of the veil. Then, the wings receded into the back of a red jacket. Jake stooped low, picking up a large, beach-ball sized cluster of gems, before turning to walk over to the other two.

"Did you _see that?_ " Jake said excitedly. However, noting his grandfather's serious expression, he tried to regain some of his professionalism and turned to the satyr. "Ah, I mean. There we, uh, have it. It shouldn't cause you any further trouble."

The satyr thanked them for their trouble, to which Lao Shi replied it was no problem. Then, with a final goodbye (and a promise to return soon and help replant his field), the two dragons took form for a final time, and shot into the sky. As they flew, Jake noticed Lao Shi take a different path than normal. However, Jake's thoughts were more so on his battle, and the weight of the gem cluster he held in his foreclaws.

"Yo, gramps," he said, looking down at the glittering mass. "These things are kinda getting out of control, right? I mean, popping up this close to civilization?"

The old dragon nodded, the wind causing his wispy, white mustache to trail behind him.

"I agree, my student," he said. "This is the final straw. I thought, perhaps, we could contain them on our own. However, I think it's finally time that we go see some old friends."

* * *

As the gentle sea breeze blew its way through his mess of curls, the young boy let out a soft sigh. He was glad to finally have a moment of quiet respite to himself; he found that he had gotten very few recently. Despite summer supposedly being a time of fun and relaxation, his had been full of trials and tribulation. He was glad for this moment in the sun, basking in its warmth, forgetting about the worries of the wider world.

Then, something blocked out his vision. At first he assumed it was a passing bird, or maybe a plane of some kind. However, as the shadow it cast grew larger, as opposed to soaring past, he began to grow skeptical. The boy winked one eye open, and blearily got his first look at what was casting the shadow.

The boy's jaw dropped.

Before he could even blink and make sure what he saw was real, there was a loud, familiar chime. He knew it as the warp pad. Dashing across the sands, towards the rotting wooden staircase that led up and into his home, the boy stopped once at the door to look back up at the sky. Surely enough, it was not a trick of the light.

There were two dragons flying towards his balcony.

Tearing open the old screen door, the boy was instantly met with a trio of familiar faces stepping off of the warp pad. One was tall, burgundy, and sported a massive afro. Another was slender and pale, with a pointed nose, and the final familiar face was a small, purple individual, with a mass of wild white hair.

"Garnet, Pearl, Amethyst!" The boy called out.

"Hey, Steven," Amethyst said.

"No luck on finding Malachite," Garnet said sadly.

"That's OK! We have visitors! Cool ones!" Steven said.

"What?" Pearl said.

"Come see!"

Steven dragged them out onto the porch, and as they walked out into the summer sun, they found themselves staring at two massive creatures. One was nearly 20 feet in length, a gargantuan purple serpent that seemed to hover in the air by sheer force of will. Beside him was smaller, but still hulking drake, who had to flap its dark red wings to stay afloat. They both landed at the base of the steps, Steven turned to look to the gems, trying to gauge their reactions. Amethyst grinned, Garnet looked deadly serious, and Pearl was curious and anxious and a whole lot of other emotions all at once.

The three of them descended the stairs to the beach, and Steven quickly followed, skipping stairs by four or five, and floating down each flight in his excitement. Then, to Steven's surprise, the trio of gems bowed deeply before the great, purple dragon. In kind, the massive being dipped its own head to them.

"Master Dragon," Pearl said, as she rose from her bow. "To what do we owe the pleasure? And who, may I ask, is your companion?"

The larger of the two dragons turned to the smaller, and then they both flared up with mystical flame. When the fire dispersed, there were two humans standing there. One, an old Chinese man, stooped and wearing regal blue robes. He had a long, wispy white beard, and eyes that were dark with wisdom. Clutched in the old man's hand was a large bundle, wrapped in cloth. The other person was a younger boy, around Steven's age, with his hair spiked up and dyed green at the tips. He wore a stylish red jacket, and stood with his hands stuck in his pockets.

"It has been a long time, Crystal Gems," the old man said. "Long enough that I have had not only children… but grandchildren. This is Jake. He is my grandson, and he will be the next Dragon."

Steven looked at Jake with stars in his eyes. As the young dragon met Steven's gaze, he gave a slightly confused look.

"It's nice to meet you, young Dragon," Pearl said.

"'Sup Jake," Amethyst said nonchalantly.

"Something tells me that you didn't come here for a pleasure visit, Master Dragon," Garnet said, continually the sobering presence. Lao Shi looked to her gravely.

"No, I'm afraid not," he said. He unwrapped the cloth that hid the bundle he held, and slowly revealed the sparkling clump of crystals. Steven's eyes went wider as the package was revealed. "I think that we have much to discuss."

**DANGER WATCH**

* * *

**Author's Note:** _Hey, thanks for reading! Its finally here: the moment you've been waiting for! If you don't know, Danger Watch is a fanfiction series I've been working on for a while, where various characters from different cartoons come together in a cohesive story universe. It's sort of like the MCU!_

_That being said, Danger Watch can be read on its own, but will be a lot cooler (and make a lot more sense probably) if you read the first few books in the series first. Be sure to check out my bio for more info on that!_

_But again, thank you so much for reading! I hope you guys are excited for a wild ride: this is where things get interesting!_


	2. Gathering Storm

**Author's Note:** _Hey again! Welcome back! We're jumping right into another chapter. If you like the story, be sure to Bookmark to keep up, and if you have any hot takes be sure to put them in the comments!_

_Anyway, that's enough from me. Enjoy the chapter~_

* * *

**Chapter 2 - Gathering Storm**

Everywhere Ben looked, there was storm, and darkness.

He was alone, cold, on a desolate island. Lost in the storm. Alone. He crawled up the beach, away from the nightmares in the sky. Shaking with cold and fear, Ben crawled beneath the meager shelter of a nearby tree. Tucking his knees to his chin, he squeezed his eyes shut, shouting wordlessly and willing the storm away. It did no such thing. Instead there was a crack of thunder that seemed to taunt him. _How helpless you are,_ it seemed to tease. _Any moment a stray bolt could strike you down. That easily. Nothing but a fly._

The water level began to rise, and the beach grew shorter and shorter. The churning darkness of the sea matched that of the nightmare sky, and it threatened to soon over take him. Ben quickly stood, his back pressed firmly to the tree. Another crack of thunder, and a flash of lightning. The tree was ablaze, falling over. Ben's last hope. Gone, in a flash. The water was climbing his ankles now. The nightmare storm would take him. He had only one more opportunity. Ben looked to his wrist, and instantly, the cylindrical helix of the watch presented itself to him. A glowing green beacon in the darkness.

Ben twisted the dial to the right creature, a fanged, finned thing with gills. Then, just as the water engulfed him, he took one deep breath, and slammed his hand down on the button. There was a burst of green energy, and a vibration of power that sent a ricochet of bubbles flying out in haphazard directions. Then, when the bubbles cleared, Ben made a horrifying realization. The storm noticed, and seemed to laugh at him. He wasn't the shark-like alien. He was a being made entirely of fire… and he was swimming 10 feet under the surface of the ocean.

He instantly felt weak. He swayed, faltered… He was going to drown!

Ben woke up gasping for air, drenched in his own, cold, sweat. He looked frantically around his room. It was a small, side bunk that he was sharing with his cousin, Gwen. They had been shacked up there upon arrival at the Hinobi base. It was basically a square, with a comfortable enough bed for each of them, a bedside table, a dresser, and precious little else. There was one window that occupied an entire wall, a massive glass pane that was part of the larger, modern frame of the base's design. The sun was peeking in, through the blinds, slightly ajar. Ben could already see people in white uniforms making their rounds around the base.

These were Hinobi Glitch Techs, specifically trained specialists. They were sort of like a private security force at first, but over time they became a fusion of covert ops and intelligence. Ben and Gwen, upon arriving at the base, had met two of these Techs. Agents Miko and Five. They couldn't tell them anything further about their actual names. So, they were just Miko and Five. They were professional, but kind, and were particularly fond of one of the other young residents of the Hinobi base.

With impeccable timing, the door to the room opened, and an imposing figure stood in the frame. Gwen blinked an eye open, and, noticing who was at the door, closed it again. She knew who the visitor was here for, and it wasn't her.

The person at the door was sort of a person, but also mostly a robot. She was some kind of android, fashioned to look vaguely humanoid. XJ-9, also known as Jenny. She was tall, 6 feet or so, with a sleek, white and blue metal exterior. She had a streamlined, combat ready design, but her eyes were strangely human. Likewise, when she spoke, her voice (while digitized somewhat) was almost uncanny sounding.

"Let's go," the robot said.

"Huh?" Ben said groggily.

"Mom- Erm. Director Wakeman wants you to come down to the scan bay. There are some tests she needs to run on the Omnitrix."

Ben squinted for a second, and then it all came back to him. His nightmare quickly vanished into his subconscious, and he stood, pulling on his baggy cargo pants and button up.

"Yeah, OK," he said, "but I still think 'the Watch' sounds cooler than 'Omnitrix'."

Jenny rolled her eyes, and turned to walk down the hallway. She made it a few strides before turning back, annoyed, to watch Ben groggily catch up. The door to his room slid shut behind him. They continued at this pace for a while, until Jenny grew tired of waiting for him. At that point she just walked off to the entrance of the scan bay, leaving Ben to navigate the winding halls of the Hinobi base by the sounds of her heavy, metal footsteps. Eventually he did find the scan bay, and outside of it, a small cluster of people.

Jenny was there, of course, and beside her a small, mature woman, with a grey pixie cut and a long, yellow coat. She wore a pair of dark goggles on her forehead. That was Director Wakeman. Standing beside the Director was Ben's grandfather, Max. As Ben approached, the old man ruffled his hair.

"You OK, Ben? Did ya skip breakfast?" He said. Ben glared at Jenny.

"When did I get time for breakfast?" He said, to nobody in particular.

Wakeman was over it before it began.

"Alright, alright," she said. "Now that we're all assembled, I'd like to run my tests if you don't mind."

"So what are you gonna do, like, x-ray me?" Ben asked, shuffling over to the door as it was opened for him.

"Not quite," Wakeman said. "However, the radiation we're using could harm a human without the protective field you have from the Omnitrix. So, we can't come in and hold your hand or anything."

"Gross, I don't want anyone to hold my hand," Ben said indignantly.

"It'll be OK, Ben," Max said. "We just gotta make sure we know as much as we can about this thing."

Ben shrugged, and walked into the scan bay. It was an empty, grey room, with two benches sitting parallel to each other, and large mirror, that Ben assumed was one way. Wakeman noticed Jenny watching Ben, her arms crossed, eyes glazed with boredom. The director quirked a silver eyebrow.

"XJ-9, why don't you go in and keep him company," she said.

"What? No, I-"

"Nonsense. As an android, you'll be safe from the radiation. Plus, we wouldn't either of you to get too _bored_ or anything."

Jenny tried to sputter an argument for a moment more before she resigned. She knew her mother would not give ground. With a sour expression, the android walked into the scan bay, and leaned with her back against one of the walls, her arms still crossed. Ben glanced at her once, but she kept her eyes glued to the ceiling as the door was shut and locked behind them. They were suddenly alone.

"You coulda woke me up for breakfast," Ben said after a few moments of silence.

Jenny turned so that she was leaning on her side, with her back to Ben. There was silence again, and then Ben's stomach growled loudly. Ben couldn't contain himself.

"Now I'm gonna be so hungry," he whined.

"You're kind of a twerp, you know that?" Jenny said, glancing over her shoulder at him. \

"You don't even know what hunger feels like!"

"Ugh," Jenny said, rolling her eyes and turning away again.

" _Alright, we're gonna start the first wave of scans now,"_ came Wakeman's voice over a P.A.

Outside of the scan bay, in a room on the opposite side of the mirror, Max and Wakeman stood watching the pair in the bay. The glass was leaded and one way, so they couldn't be seen, or harmed by any stray particles, but they could observe what was going on in the scan bay. Wakeman was adjusting various dials, and occasionally glancing at one of nearly a dozen different forms of monitor. From printed paper tickers to digital wavelength readouts. Max, who was less experienced with this side of things, stood with his hands in his pockets, and let Wakeman do what she did.

"So," Max said, after a long moment of silence. The old man swayed on the balls of his heels in a way that seemed juvenile. "What's the scanner say?"

"It's remarkable," Wakeman said. "Unlike anything I've studied. It's tech working on a level more fundamentally complicated than some living beings on our planet. I can't even begin to theorize who made it, or what else they might have constructed."

Max gave a grim nod.

"How does it all tie back into Vilgax?" He said.

Neither of them was fond of hearing the name spoken aloud. Both bore deep, scarred memories of the being it represented. However, they had scarred him too, there was no denying it. Wakeman sighed, leaning back in the rolling chair she was perched in. Bringing her angular fingers to her temples, she began to verbally speculate.

"There's a few leads," she said. "First and foremost, almost a year ago, now, there was the Red Eye. It was this giant probe, it came down in New Mexico. That was when XJ-9 and I first got involved with this Hinobi nonsense. I think it was looking for the Omnitrix, but instead found a different powerful piece of tech, in XJ-9. Before we took it out of commission, the probe sent a signal back to whoever was in control of it."

"So, that's Vilgax?" Max assumed. Wakeman stretched the side of her lip and cheek, suggesting that there might be more to the story. Max waited expectantly.

"Maybe," Wakeman said. "Except… Max, it's got all the markings of a Gem-tech probe."

"Gems?" Max said, earnest surprise sneaking into his voice. "I thought they gave up on this planet eons ago."

"We're still paid the occasional visit," the director said wryly. "After all, we do happen to host the only faction of gems to ever successfully rebel against the Diamond Authority."

"That's right," Max said, as if remembering an entire section of his past. His eyes were lost for a moment.

"There's been more and more "unprecedented" activity on the east coast. The ramp up in glitches has been so significant that we've had to start doing routine mindwipes in some of the rural locations," Wakeman said. "There was even an incident in NYC, though, that was a different case. Something about dragons… You'd have loved that one."

"Stay focused, Nora," Max said.

"Don't tell me what to do," Wakeman said, though with no conviction. "Since the rebel gems are, from what our drone sightings tell us, currently located on the east coast, its easy to assume that the recent surge of problems can be attributed at least somewhat to them."

"You think they've gone double rogue?" Max asked.

"Not likely," Wakeman said. "No, I think ultimately, this does all tie back into Vilgax. The gem-related problems surge and then recede. The rebels have never caused too much trouble for us directly, from what I know. Plus, those robots that Ben described…"

"Textbook drones," Max said, as he recalled the wreckage from an earlier part of the summer. "It was like looking in a mirror to the past."

"I believe it. I used parts of Vilgax's old drones to build some of the early XJ models, so I know all about the orange bastards," Wakeman said.

Max sighed, pacing a small route and tapping his thick fingers on his square chin.

"If we're right," he said, "and he's… back. Then we need to prepare for a storm. Full lockdown, high alert, Ben needs top priority security at all times. Last time Vilgax came to town, things weren't pretty. Not to mention what we might be in for if the gems have turned."

Wakeman, by this point, was reviewing the scans once more, and Max turned to look into the one way window. He worried for his grandson, because he had seen what this foe could do. He knew the threat that they faced…

And they weren't ready.


	3. Swapping Notes

**Author's Note:** _Hey again, welcome back to Danger Watch! This chapter we get a little more time with Jake and Steven as they learn more of each others worlds. What do you think of the DWU, and my portrayals of the characters? What are you excited to see? I love reading your comments and they really do mean the world, so if you have any thoughts don't be afraid to share!_

_Anyway, that's enough from me. Enjoy the chapter!_

* * *

**Chapter Three - Swapping Notes**

Pearl quickly ushered the whole party into the temple, and she and Lao Shi discussed matters of the past as they ascended the staircase. As they were filing up, Steven noticed that Garnet was about to bubble the small cluster of gems.

"Oh, wait," Steven said, "can I do it?"

Garnet raised an eyebrow.

"It's pretty big… Think you're up to it?"

"I've been practicing," the boy said confidently.

Jake, who was watching this exchange from the rear of the group, tilted his head slightly to the side. He didn't know what they were referencing. However, as Jake watched, Steven cupped his hands in the air around the knot of crystals. Then, there was the sound like sealing of air, and an ethereal, pink bubble appeared, surrounding the entire thing. Garnet then took her hands away, and the bubble floated freely until Steven tapped the top of the orb, and it vanished into pink particles. Jake raised his eyebrows.

"Yo," he said, "how'd you do that, tho?"

Steven turned to look at him.

"Hm?" He said. Then it hit him. "Oh, the bubble?"

"Yeah, can you like. Teleport?"

Steven laughed.

"Only corrupted gems," he said, rubbing the back of his neck. "And… only to certain places. Unless I have a warp pad. Or my lion."

"Warp pad?" Jake echoed. By that point, they had all walked into the temple, and Steven gestured towards the back of the room. There was a circular platform there, made out of interconnecting, opaque crystal.

"Yeah," he said. "There's a bunch of them all over the world. I think there's even one on the moon, but…"

"The galaxy warp is offline," Amethyst chimed in sourly. Then, to Pearl, she added: "So what's the first order of business, P?"

"If I may," Lao Shi said. "I think, perhaps, we should discuss this in another room. My apprentice is still in early stages of training, after all, and there are some things you know that may… obfuscate his lessons."

"Grandpa!" Jake protested.

Pearl looked sidelong at Steven, whose expression read: ' _Don't you dare.'_

"Excellent idea, Master Dragon," she said, squeezing her eyes shut and forcing a smile.

"Pearl!"

"I know, Steven. We promised you we would be more forthcoming with you. However, we are the more experienced gems (and dragons). Trust us to come up with a plan," Garnet said. The boy tried to remain glum, but Garnet placed her hand on his shoulder, and he sighed, some of his aggravation alleviated. "We'll fill you in after."

"OK." Steven said.

"We can use my room," Amethyst offered.

"We can use _my_ room," Pearl negated, walking over to the door to the inner temple.

Her gem glowed, corresponding to the pearlescent crystal orb inlaid in the door, and it suddenly shifted open. Inside was a calming, garden-like room with large fountains in each of its corners. Then, without further ceremony, the mentors entered the room, and the door closed behind them. After the door shut, Jake collapsed onto the couch, pulling his Nintendo DS out from the inside pocket of his jacket. Steven watched him game for a few seconds, little virtual explosions filling the room.

"Uh, I'm Steven by the way," the boy said, breaking the silence. Jake didn't look up from the DS.

"Jake," he said.

"Yeah, I overheard," Steven said with an awkward laugh. There was a sad, chiptune theme that played from his handheld game. Jake had died. With a sigh, he tucked away the game. Steven decided to continue pursuing conversation. "What do you think they're talking about?"

Jake shrugged.

"Probably the weird crystal things we've been fighting," Jake said. He noticed Steven's glint of recognition. "By the way, what's up with your witchy aunts? Are they trolls? Freaky elves?"

Steven laughed again, this time genuinely.

"What? _Trolls?_ No," he said, struggling to keep down his chuckling as he noticed the slight wound to Jake's pride. "Um, heh, no. They're gems. They came from space."

Jake blinked once, and then seemed to actually register what he had said.

"Woah, like aliens?"

"Yeah!"

"Grandpa never said anything about aliens!" Jake said, looking bewildered as he threw his hands up to his hair.

"You're a dragon, but you never thought aliens might be real?" Steven said. Jake shot him a look.

"No, dude! Obviously not," he said. "What, you assume that unicorns were real cuz you live with three aliens?"

"I don't just _live_ with aliens I-" Steven paused. "Wait, unicorns are real?"

" _See?_ "

"OK, no, you're right," Steven said. Jake was slowly calming down, and Steven rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, I'm glad that somebody told you. I know what its like to be kept in the dark about stuff."

There was a break in the conversation. Steven was waiting to see if he had came across as strange, and Jake seemed to be thinking hard about something.

"So, is that what they are?" He finally said. "These crystal monsters. They're… _alien_ monsters?"

"Yeah, I guess," Steven said. "They weren't always monsters. They were like Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl once. People. Gems."

"Heavy," Jake said. "Are you the only ones left, then? What happens if your friends turn into one of them?"

Steven shuddered at the thought, but shook his head.

"No, no," he said. "We're not exactly the last gems. There are still way more out there in space… and even a few others here on Earth. The monsters that have been popping up recently; the ones that your grandpa is concerned about… They're something called 'cluster prototypes.'"

Jake squinted at the unfamiliar term, and Steven began to wonder whether or not to disclose the information to him. He hadn't even told the gems everything that he knew. Before she had escaped to who-knows-where, Peridot had come close to cracking, bestowing some of her knowledge of the impending danger to Steven. Realizing that, in placing an embargo on Jake's knowledge, he would be a hypocrite, Steven decided he deserved to know. He was a dragon, after all. Maybe he would help.

"Cluster?" Jake asked.

"They…" Steven went a little pale."Hrk… Sorry, it's gross- They're parts of shattered gems… stuck together."

At first, Jake was confused. Then, stunned. Then, mortified, and finally, disgusted. Steven understood each reaction and nodded to show that they were valid; a comforting mannerism she had picked up from his friend Connie. Once he looked stable enough for more, Steven pursed his lip.

"That's not the worst part," he said.

"Of course it's not!" Jake said, throwing his head back on the couch. "What the _what_ have you gotten mixed up in, dawg?"

"What the… what?"

"What?"

Steven squinted in confusion.

"... What…" he said, more than asked. Then, he gave finger guns to Jake, who just shook his head, flabbergasted.

"Dude? What's the worst part!" He said, reminding Steven of what they had been talking about.

"Right," he said, snapping back from the off-putting buzzwords. Jake slapped his own forehead with his palm. "These guys are prototypes, like I said. Tests, for the real thing. There were others, but these ones seem to be waking up. According to a frie-… According my sources, it's because its waking up. The Cluster. The real one."

"Let me guess," Jake said, "it's the biggest and baddest one."

"You have no idea," Steven said.

"How bad? You think that me, gramps, and the alien ladies could take it?" Jake asked.

"No way," Steven said, shaking his head. "We wouldn't stand a chance. The Cluster is massive… Like, wake up and take out half the continent massive."

Steven sifted through the ever-growing pile of papers that was building up on the coffee table. Pearl, now frequently busy searching for Malachite or else combatting rogue gem monsters, wasn't stopping in to clean as often. Thus, a layer of debris was begin to grow on every surface of the temple house. Eventually, the boy found what he was looking for: hastily drawn sketches in crayon. He handed them to Jake, who studied the flaming earth and the floating skulls.

"What language is that?" Jake asked. Steven looked confused.

"What do you mean?" He said.

"What does it say?" The young dragon pointed to the apparent scribbles on the drawing.

"You… you can't read it?" Steven asked. Jake gave him an annoyed look.

"If I could read it, why would I ask, man?"

"I guess it must be written in Gem Glyph… I didn't even realize. My brain must have auto-translated."

"You speak alien?" Jake asked.

"I mean, yeah," Steven said. Jake blinked, but Steven pointed to the writing. He knew that it read ' _die, die, die.'_ "It says, uh, 'danger, danger.'"

"No it doesn't," Jake said. "You're a bad liar."

"Hnng," Steven squirmed.

"Look, it's not that important," Jake said. "Tell me more about this Cluster thing. When does it pop out? How do we stop it?"

Steven looked grim.

"That's the problem. I don't have any idea when its gonna emerge. As for how to stop it… That's also a problem. Apparently, we need some kind of powerful machine to take us down into the crust where its buried. I'm not sure we'd be able to stop it. I have a theory on how, but we'd need a lot of power. Besides, we won't be able to get down there anyway. As far as I know there's no human tech capable of building a machine like that."

Then, where was a scratching at the door. Both boys turned to see the hulking shape of a lion standing at the entrance of the temple house. It was pink in hue, with a lighter mane that took on the appearance of a cloud of cotton candy. It leered into the screen door with its enormous, intelligent eyes. It seemed to stare directly at Steven as it pawed at the door. With a wry smile, Steven went over and let the beast inside.

"Oh, hey, Lion," he said. "I was just talking about you earlier. Lion, this is Jake. Jake, this is my lion. It's OK, he's nice."

Jake just shook his head in disbelief as the great, pink animal came and sat down directly in front of Steven.

"I thought my life was weird," he said, "I think you got me beat, fam."

Steven started to say something lighthearted in response, but was interrupted by a heavy, fond nudge from the pink lion. The young half-gem looked down at him curiously, but the great cat just stared at him. Steven sighed. This again.

"Oh, boy, here we go," he said. He turned to Jake, and tried to ignore the next heavy nudge that the lion gave him. "He's not gonna- _oof,_ stop until I follow him… You wanna come? It might get weird."

Jake was already standing up, stretching his arms out and then shoving his hands in his pockets. He just shrugged.

"Yeah, I was getting bored anyway. To be honest, at this point, I'm actually curious as to how much weirder this can get. I started the morning bringing potions to a mermaid."

"Mermaids are real too? _Oof-_ OK _,_ Lion, _fine!"_

Jake laughed as Steven was nearly toppled by the aggressive affection of the feline, and the little ensemble made their way out to the beach. As they descended the old wood steps to the sands below, Jake cast a gaze out at the water. This was a nice town. It was sad he hadn't found this spot before summer vacation ended. He figured it would be really cool to watch the sunset from on top of the giant, carved lady in the cliff behind them.

As the reached the beach, the lion swiftly trotted ahead, and Steven kept looking over at Jake, waiting for his reaction. Jake watched with mild curiosity as the lion sniffed at the ground, trotted in a circle, and then stood stock still. Jake cocked an eyebrow. The lion swung its tail once, looking back at Steven intently. Jake snorted, but Steven continued to wait in apprehension. The lion continued to stand perfectly still.

"Looks like your kitty doesn't wanna- Woah!" Jake started to say.

Then, the lion turned back around at them, only this time, its eyes were glowing bright white. This startled Jake, cutting him off. Then, the lion turned towards the sea once more, and stooped low to deliver a powerful, cutting roar. There was a magical, pulsing noise layered into the roar, and rings of white-pink energy came shooting out of the creature's mouth.

The energy rings hovered in the air before swirling and compounding into a singular mass. A hovering, circular gateway. As the magic settled, the lion's eyes ceased to glow, and it promptly rolled over on its side in the grass. Steven and Jake approached the portal while the lion writhed playfully on its back, but as soon as they were directly in front of the portal, the lion stopped, and stared directly at them. Steven grinned at the beast, and went over and scratched beneath its chin.

"Thanks for the portal, lion," he said. "I'm sure it goes somewhere neat!"

"It's not, like, a competition," Jake said, as they both walked towards the swirling magic portal. "But, I also fought a minotaur a few months ago. I, uh, I won. Easily."

"That's awesome!" Steven said. He then vanished into the shimmering light, leaving Jake alone with the lion. The young boy looked at the creature, who was still staring at him. Jake squinted.

"How did you do that?" He asked.

The lion blinked. It had no answers. It was a lion. Recognizing this, Jake went through the portal.


	4. Sulking Over Ice Cream

**Author's Note:** _Hey again, and welcome back to another chapter of Danger Watch! It looks like we have a lot of you guys keeping up with the story at this point, and that's super awesome, I really can't thank you enough. Who is your favorite character so far? What are your predictions? Do you have any critiques of how I portray anybody? Be sure to let me know in the comments, as I'm always actively reading them and taking them into consideration!_

_Anyway, that is enough out of me. Enjoy the chapter!_

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**Chapter Four - Sulking Over Ice Cream**

Director Wakeman ran tests on Ben for a little over an hour before she mercifully allowed he and the XJ-9 to go their own way for the day. Ben gratefully dashed off to the cafeteria to get some early lunch, and Jenny decided to go out for a walk. She didn't need exercise, or even fresh air, but something in her circuits liked the sun. She couldn't explain it. As she walked through the chrome halls of the Hinobi base, she was quickly flanked by a pair of agents in white. The robot glanced over her shoulder, and then smiled as she recognized the newcomers.

"Hey, Miko. Hey, Five," she said.

"What's up Jenny?" Miko said. The young agent had her purple streaked hair tied up in a tight bun. She gave the android a peace sign as she and her partner took up walking next to the XJ-9.

"Going for a walk," Jenny said.

"Hey, us too!" Five, the other agent, said. He was tall and noodle-like, with a thick head of hair and dark, kind eyes. "Mind if we join you?"

She didn't, and soon the trio was walking out onto the (now quite busy) grounds of the Hinobi base. The Techs had been working hard since their arrival at the base near Mount Rushmore, and the wide, grassy valley was now littered with military grade equipment and fortifications. It was all thanks to digistruction, a process the Hinobi company had invented. It used the concept of molecular transformation to essentially construct solid matter from data.

"Ya know what's weird?" Five said, mostly to Miko.

"Mm?" His partner replied.

"To think that when we first joined up with Hinobi we were interns at a retail video game shop, and now we're highly trained Glitch Techs operating level 7 tech."

"That's not weird. Watching a 10 year old kid turn into a bug-monster is weird," Miko said, pausing to help as they strode past a group of agents struggling to transport a large, steel beam. "Also, I'm pretty sure we're called "H.A.M.M.E.R. Agents" now."

"That's right," Five said, shaking his head. "I'm never gonna get used to that; let alone remember what the heck the acronym is."

"H.A.M.M.E.R. stands for Hinobi Alien, Meta-Human, and Magical Emergency Response," Jenny suddenly rattled off the information. She noticed Five's surprised impression, and looked sheepishly off to the side. "Ya know. Or somethin'."

"I forgot about the 'magical' part," Miko said, laboring beneath the heavy beam.

Jenny noticed that Miko and the other agents were struggling, and provided her assistance. This took the form of lifting the beam with a single hand and flying it over to the pile where it needed to be taken. As she flew back to them, Miko just grinned wryly at her.

"Show off," she said, as Jenny touched down. One of the XJ-9's twin-tails tilted slightly.

"What? I was just trying to help," she said.

"And you did help," one of the nearby agents said. She was a woman, slightly older than Miko and Five. Unlike the other agents, she wore a suit rather than a uniform, as well as a stylish white hijab.

"Agent Cloud! Good to see you," Jenny said. The woman raised up a hand.

"Please," she said. "Now that I'm a desk jockey you don't need to worry about using my operative alias. You can call me by my name: Zahra."

"Oh," Jenny said, smiling awkwardly. "Sure, OK, Zahra, then."

"What can we do for you, Officer Zahra?" Five said, giving her a little salute. Zahra scoffed.

"Not you, too," she said in mock agony. "Please, just Zahra will be fine; and I was just doing a routine inspection when I happened to see the one and only android on campus. Along with her two favorite agents, of course. Do you want to grab lunch?"

"Yes," Miko said, interrupting anybody else's thoughts on the subject. Zahra laughed.

"I figured as much," she said. "Come on, let's hurry before they run out of ice cream."

"Ooh, ice cream" Miko said, practically drooling. "That sounds good… I think it's a strawberry kind of day. What do you think, Jenny?"

"I think I have no idea what that means."

Zahra laughed, and the party started making their way across the wide expanse of green. As they walked through the Hinobi field, Five took note of a structure on the edge of the valley, almost hidden amongst the edge of the tree line. It was a wide, flat platform. It was opaque and off-white, and at one point might have sparkled. Now, it was overgrown with moss, dirt, and debris. He squinted at it until, finally, something clicked in his brain. It was familiar.

"Hey," he said, pointing it out. "It's one of those things. From New Mexico."

"A Red Eye!?" Jenny said, whirling around and instantly summoning various deadly instruments from her chassis.

"No, no," Five said, quickly soothing the battle-ready android. "There… we found it in that ruin."

"Oh, yeah!" Jenny said. "The EDM venue!"

Miko snorted.

"That's right," she said. Then, she frowned. "Weird… What's it doing so far from the other one?"

"Whatever it is, its dormant," Zahra said. "Hasn't done anything since we set up shop. Probably some old monuments or something."

That seemed to be enough to keep them moving, and combined with the looming promise of food, quickly served to take the human members of the groups' minds off of the mystery of the crystalline platforms. Jenny, however, whose mind could not be addled by such base thing like hunger, was still contemplating that mystery as they walked into the cafeteria. It was a large, simple space, with two by two rows of tables and benches, and a wall at the far end of the room where a serving window was located. A handful of people were milling around the café; there was a group of Hinobi agents talking in hushed tones, a smaller, quieter agent with glasses eating alone, and (to Jenny's displeasure) a pair of children sitting off to one side.

When he saw them enter the room, Ben's face, too, reflected his sour opinion on the encounter. He promptly ignored Jenny, and dug into his sandwich aggressively. His ravenous sounds became so poignant that Gwen actually glanced up from her book, quirking an eyebrow.

"I know you already smell like one, but do you have to eat like an alien monster, too?" She jeered. "That watch is really changing you. Oh, wait, you've always been gross."

"Shuddup, Gwem," Ben said, through a mouthful of sandwich.

Across the room, the Hinobi agents and Jenny walked through the serving line. The humans piled trays up with food, and Miko stopped to grab a cup of pink ice cream before they started walking back to find a table. As they went, Zahra took note of Jenny's glances towards Ben in the corner, and that seemed to jog her memory.

"That's right," she said, as the group sat down at their table. "Now that we've all come together, I have some orders from the Director."

Jenny was instantly alerted by the mention of her mother, and raised a robotic eyebrow, curious to see what Zahra has to say. As Miko tucked into her ice cream (before her food) and Five looked on, the officer continued.

"Until further notice, our top priority is maintaining security on the Omnitrix. Wakeman says that she suspects we may have some enemy factions, yes plural, who want it. Orders are to be on high alert, and make sure that the kid is secure."

Miko and Five nodded seriously, and Jenny let out a loud moan, letting her forehead slam into the table. Miko looked at her with confusion.

"What?" She asked.

"If you guys are on watch duty, that means that more than likely so am I," Jenny groaned. "I'm sick of babysitting!"

Zahra grimaced.

"None of us have to like it," she said. "This is what we have to do to survive. If our enemies get their hands on the weapon that Ben has… It's game over."

Jenny sighed glumly, and leaned her head on her hand as her companions slowly ate their meals. Miko and Five would glance occasionally at the android, hoping to find a way to console her, but found none. Five sighed.

Teenagers.


	5. The Gem Forge

**Author's Note:** _Hey again! Welcome back to another chapter. I know you want to see the whole gang get together, but there needs to be some build up. I promise the payoff will be worth it! Enjoy the chapter, and if you're liking the story, a Kudos or Comment is always appreciated! Thanks for reading!_

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**Chapter Five - The Gem Forge**

As they emerged on the other side of the portal, Jake noticed two things. First, he was struggling to breathe; the air had grown thin. Second, he was cold. He glanced around the area, seeing stones and snow, and beyond that open sky. They were on the side of a mountain.

"Ayo, what the heck? Where are we?" Jake said, rubbing his arms to keep warm as he peered over the side and down to the plummeting depths of the earth below. .

"W-where ever we are," Steven said, his teeth chattering as he turned back to give Jake a brave look. "It's a little c-c-cold."

Jake noticed then, that Steven was wearing flip-flops and a t-shirt. No wonder he was so cold. Not to mention, the inner flame of the dragon kept Jake running hotter than most. He was about to say something on the subject when there was a roar from behind him. The pink lion then emerged through the portal, and it sealed shut behind him.

"Lion, wait- Noooo!" Steven said, diving towards the portal and then landing in the snow as it vanished. The lion blinked down at him, with a puzzled expression on its face. Then, it licked its paw. Steven stood, brushing snow off of himself. His whole body was shivering now. "Well… Looks like we b-better start looking for a warp pad."

"What? Why don't you just have him bring us back," Jake asked. Then, he sized the two of them up. A sniffling kid and a half-ton lion. It was then that he began to understand the relationship the two shared. "He doesn't listen to you, does he?"

"Not really," Steven said, looking a little defeated. A gust of wind blew past and caused him to shiver further.

"Here," Jake said.

The young teen walked over to a lump of snow near Steven, using his sleeve to brush away the whtie powder. As he had suspected, there was a dead bush there. It took some work, but Jake managed to uncover most of it. It would have to do. Steven watched him, sniffling occasionally, as he worked. Then, Jake took a couple steps back, and framed the bush in his fingers, squinting one eye.

"What are you doing?" Steven finally asked.

"Move like a foot to the left," Jake said. Confused, Steven complied. Jake grinned. "Alright, check this out. _Head of the Dragon!"_

There was a burst of light, and a precious moment where Steven felt heat against his face. Then, when the light faded, Jake's head had been replaced with the oversized, intimidating visage of the red dragon. Steven marveled as Jake reared back and let loose a gob of flame from his mouth. The little fireball pelted its way towards the bush, and when it connected, the dead plant was set aflame. Steven quickly squatted next to the blaze, rubbing his hands together.

"Oh, sweet warmth. Thanks, Jake!" he said.

"No problem," Jake said. He has one hand in his pocket, and was looking out across the mountainside with his newly formed draconic eyes. The dragon's eyes were far better than his usual, and he quickly spotted something higher up the side of the peak. "Hey, what's that?"

"Hm?" Steven asked. Jake pointed it out to him, and Steven had to squint to see it, however surely enough it was there. Some kind of structure, or at least a large, carved gateway to one. It was, in some ways, reminiscent of the ruins he and the gems had explored before. Steven's heart soared. "Woah, hey, a Gem Ruin!"

"Is that what it is?" Jake asked.

"Uh-huh!" Steven confirmed. "I knew lion would take us somewhere cool… But, uh, how are we gonna get up there?"

"I guess you forgot," Jake said smugly, striding forward. "Or did you not see me on the way in? _Dragon Up!"_

There was another burst of flame, and Jake's body transformed. His legs and arms grew thick and strong, with heavy claws. A long tail shot out of the base of his spine. Huge, leathery wings peeled their way from his shoulder blades, and spines sprouted up along his back and down the length of his tail. He was now 9 feet of glorious lizard. He had become the dragon.

"Oh, _yeah!"_ Steven remembered ecstatically. "You're a dragon!"

"Climb on," Jake said, leaning low to give Steven access to his back. As the other boy climbed aboard, Jake turned back to look at the pink lion, who was only slightly surprised by his transformation. "Will he be OK?"

"Who, lion?" Steven said, turning to look at him. Then, he grinned. "He'll keep up."

"Word," Jake said. "OK, buckle up! You're riding Am-Drag Airlines, and we don't use breaks!"

"What's an Am-DraAAAAG!" Steven started to ask before Jake was suddenly blasting through the air.

One pound of his enormous wings and a heavy kick from his legs sent them rocketing into the sky, and Steven's skin peeling back on his face. To his pleasant surprise, Steven found that Jake's scales were warm, and kept him from feeling hypothermic in the whipping mountain wind. They made breakneck pace towards the gem ruin, Jake swerving in between peaks, leaning here and there to swipe at some piled up snow with his claw. They both cheered as Jake did a loop-de-loop through a circular rock formation, and came shooting out the other side. Then, finally, with both of them windswept and their hearts racing, they landed at their destination. An outcropping of carved stone, jutting out jaggedly against the mountainside. Jake leaned into haphazard landing, causing Steven's teeth to clack together. Once they had landed, there was a distant, echoing roar, and both boys turned to see the pink lion, bounding from peak to peak, leaving glowing pink discs where its paws touched.

"Glad you made it, boy," Steven said, rubbing the lion's mane affectionately as it arrived. Then, they all turned to the ruin.

As Steven had suspected, the ruin was a pair of enormous doors, carved in the same stone-tech fusion that most ancient gem locations did. As the unusually trio of lion, dragon, and half-alien approached the door, they found no visible handle or access of any kind, save for a strange keyhole. It was small and square, dwarfed by the two doors it sealed together. It had a strange, geometric spiral pattern on the inside, which was caked with ice and snow. Something about the shape of the hole was familiar to Steven. He's seen it before… But where?

"So, what do you think? Jake asked. "Is it an ancient alien crash site."

"Something like that," Steven humored him, still pondering the keyhole.

"How do we get it open?"

"I'm working on that..." Steven said.

Jake raised an eyebrow at Steven's creased forehead, and, leaving the other boy to his thoughts, decided that he would exhaust their obvious options first. He strode up to the door on his hind lands, and slid his powerful claws into the sliver where the doors were separate. Then, with a grunt of preparation, he heaved with both arms in opposite directions, trying to pry the door open himself. To no surprise, he found that they were incredibly heavy, and after a few more substantial tries, the young dragon gave up, panting thick steam into the frosty mountain air.

"Forcing it's a no-go. I don't know if its's frozen or sealed tight or what," Jake said, turning back to Steven. "Do you think… What the-?"

Jake blinked in surprise as he watched Steven's flip-flopped feet vanished into the mane of the lion, who didn't seem perturbed in the slightest. Jake rubbed his draconic eyes, unsure of what he had seen, and the lion side-eyed him as if _he_ were the one acting strange. As Jake was about to approach the lion and try to see what it had done with Steven, the other boy suddenly resurfaced. There was dull, pink glow, and suddenly Steven's curly head was gasping for air as it protruded from the back of the lion's head. The beast only flicked an ear in response as the rest of Steven came tumbling out and into the snow.

"Found it!" Steven said.

"Wait, found what? Dude, where did you go?" Jake asked incredulously. Steven stood, brushing off snow, as he proudly brandished a strange, multi-chromatic stone, shaped like a squared-off pyramid.

"The key!" Steven said. "It was bubbled inside lion's mane. Kinda weird."

Jake blinked.

"Just like… _In_ there?"

"Yeah!" Steven said, reaching a hand into the glowing pink mass of fur for demonstration. "There's all kinds of cool stuff in there. I might even start storing some of my stuff there, too."

"So not only can your lion teleport and walk on air," Jake said, reaching forward to try to touch the beasts mane. It promptly snapped its jaws at his draconic fingers, and he retracted the hand. "But it can store stuff too? Dude, where do I get one?"

"He showed up when I was captured on an alien spaceship," Steven said.

"Oh, well, naturally. Where else do you get a lion of this caliber?"

"And we think he might be connected to my mom," Steven continued, walking towards the door with the supposed key in hand.

"Which one? The bird lady with the annoying voice? Oh, or the one with the cool sunglasses."

Steven paused sadly as he inspected the strange keystone in his hands, turning it over and over as he was overcome with a sudden, strange anxiety.

"No, not… Not Garnet, Amethyst or Pearl. My real mom. She, uh, died, I guess. When I was born."

The wind blew through the silence that fell, then. Jake looked at Steven's back sympathetically, and in a faint puff of fire that was quickly consumed by mountain wind, he was in his human form once more. The young dragon put his hand on Steven's shoulder.

"Hey, man, I'm really sorry. I know what it's like… My real dad was never around either. Mom doesn't like to talk about it, but I know she's still hurting."

"My dad, too," Steven said, still absently stroking the odd, rainbow stone. Jake noticed a tear had welled up in Steven's eye, and watched as the boy quickly wiped it away. "Sorry, I don't mean to-"

"It's cool, dawg," Jake said with a shrug. "You gotta talk about it… My friend Trixie says that boys can be stupid because we don't like to let our feelings out. We just bottle 'em up until they explode."

"It's not just boys," Steven said, thinking back on Pearl and her frequent emotional outbursts and shutdowns. Jake nodded as if what Steven had said was some sage wisdom.

"True that," he said. Then he jutted his chin towards the door. "Now come on, open it up already. Even _I'm_ starting to feel numb."

"OK." Steven said, wiping his tears once more and bracing himself. "Let's try this out."

The boy pushed the keystone into the hole. At first, it didn't fit, but Steven rotated it a couple of times until the grooves on the inside of the keyhole lined up with the grooves on the outside of the rainbow colored rock. There was a satisfying snap as the stone was locked into place. Less than a second later, the dull lights that seemed chiseled into the stone doors burst to live. A light show began as energy seemed to run up and down the ruin's entrance, until, with a heavy _hiss_ and a wave of steam, the doors crunched open.

They were met with a rush of warm, stale air as the they were exposed to the interior of the gem ruin. It was a towering stone room, the size of a hangar. Dust clung to the frozen air and shadows stretched long over the rooms contents; hundreds of weapons and sets of armor. Everywhere the two boys looked they saw more regalia. Their curious eyes led to wandering feet, and soon they were walking into the ruin, mouths agape, scanning the various incredible works. Jake approached a strange looking item: it was like some kind of spike, mounted on an oversized gauntlet. As he was inspecting the item, Steven's voice interrupted his thoughts.

"Maybe this is where Lion got the sword… Phew, it's like an oven in here," Steven said. He was starting to boast a small glister of sweat on his forehead. Jake, who actually felt quite comfortable, raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, you think it's hot, now?" He said, setting down the gauntlet. Steven blinked.

"Yeah," he said. "Like- Like an oven."

"What do you think this place is?" Jake said, moving he conversation forward impatiently.

"I don't know…" Steven said. As they walked towards the far end of the room they saw what appeared to be a massive, stone pit. It was empty, and there were various bellows and vents seemingly connected to a set of instruments and machines above the pit. He squinted at them, and something tickled the back of his mind. Something from a trivia flashcard. "Uh, hang on… Pearl taught me something about this. It goes like: 'The bellows of the gem forge… Steamed late into the night…' Dang, how does the rest go?"

Jake raised an eyebrow, watching as Steven racked his brain for the remainder of the gem proverb. Then, he noticed something glint in the corner of his eye. He turned casually, and saw, reflecting in a shiny, square shield, that something near the entrance of the ruin was glowing white. He looked to Steven, who seemed really focused, and shrugged.

"You keep at it," he said, "I'm gonna go check somethin' out."

"OK," Steven said distractedly, tapping his chin. "Was it 'bellows' or 'bowels'? … Bellows right?"

Jake walked back towards the open doors, expecting to find another mystery portal, or else some other secret trick that Steven's lion boasted. However, as he made it to the doorway, Jake found that the lion was not in fact the source of the light. In fact, the pink beast was standing a few meters back from the glowing door, its hackles raised, its eyes silently locked onto the true source. Jake followed the lion's gaze to the keyhole of the door. It was glowing a brilliant white color.

"Uh, yo, Steven?" He said.

"I almost got it!" Steven called back.

The keystone began to wiggle and change shape, becoming and amorphous blob of white light that morphed its way out of the slot and onto the ground. Then, it began to pulse and grow larger. The lion growled deep within its chest.

"Nah, bro, like now!" Jake shouted. " _Dragon Up!"_

A burst of light later, and Jake was the Dragon once more. He winced, though, as he felt a splint in his side. He was pushing it. He really needed a snack. A quinoa bowl sounded like heaven right about then. Steven came running, and Jake and the lion squared off with the new potential threat. Just as Steven broke the doorway, there was a quiet chime, and the light took form. First, a strong, grey frame, with some deep, dark tattoos. Then, a light-cloth smock and boots, and finally a magnificent mane of dreadlocks, each one a different, vibrant color of the rainbow. To his shock, Steven saw that, in the center of her chest, was the keystone he had used to open the door. It had been her gemstone.

This was a gem.

As she took form, the tall alien was off-balance and confused. She blinked rapidly, swayed dangerously to one side, and suddenly locked onto Jake. She furrowed her brow, her eyes overcast, and one meaty hand suddenly shapeshifted into a weighted, gray hammer-head. Jake shifted a foot back into a defensive combat stance, before, simultaneously, Steven and the lion jumped in the middle of the confrontation.

"Wait a second!" Steven shouted. The lion snarled its agreement. The large gem was now even more shaken, but the darkness left her eyes, and she took a step back, her hand returning to normal.

"A… human?" She said, shaking her head slowly. "What, I-?

Jake, sensing that she was not as hostile as she might have first appeared, let the Dragon's form drop with another flash. No sense in wasting his energy. He was unsure if he would have to fly Steven, himself, and potentially even this bulky newcomer back to Beach City. His absent wings ached just thinking about it. The gem's eyes widened as he transformed, and then she turned to Steven, who seemed to be commanding the situation.

"Hey, excuse me, listen…" She sad tentatively. "I… There's been some kind of mistake. We're the only one's here, so, how's about we don't get off to the wrong foot… Can you help me out? Where are we?"

Steven's stance softened, and he dropped his clenched fists.

"We're at the gem forge," he said. "We came here on accident."

"The forge…?" The gem said. She turned around, and looked upon the ancient ruin. Her eyes were lost and distant for a long while, the mountain wind gently tossing her hair as she took it in. A single tear dripped out of her right eye. "Its… Not going."

"Probably not for many centuries…" Steven said gently. The gem looked down at him suddenly, shocked at his answer.

"That long…? What about the war?"" She choked up. Steven tried to get a little closer. His eyes were full of sympathy.

"Listen… What's your name?" He said. "The world's changed a lot since the Gem War. I want to help."

The gem looked at him with wide, lost eyes, and for a moment, she felt a familiar sense of reassurance there. She felt an odd pang of nostalgia. She nodded to him.

"My name is-"

" _BISMUTH?"_ Came a sudden voice from behind them


	6. Pieces to Places

**Author's Note:** _Hey! Welcome back! I like Bismuth. I also really like the thing they do in the MCU where they introduce important characters in stories that aren't necessarily their own (like Hawkeye in Thor and Spider-Man in Civil War.) Who do you hope to see make a surprise appearance now, or in the future? Glad to have you keeping up with the story by the way. Now, enjoy the chapter!  
_

* * *

**Chapter Six - Pieces to Places**

**The Moon of Earth…**

A blip on one of the multitude of monitors caught her attention. Turning around, she peered over the screen, a ghastly green glow shadowing her already viridian skin. The readout showed several schematics of what appeared to be large, humanoid, robot parts. The blinking light was to notify her that the carbon-based cartilage that would serve as the sinewy material between the joints of the right arm had finished synthesizing. She noted this, and went back to the other display, her mechanical feet making boxy, tramping sounds as she walked back and forth across the control panel.

She was standing in an isolated room, slightly above a larger chamber and granting her an excellent view of what was occurring below. Dozens of drones, 8-foot tall worker robots, were moving large pieces of scrap material and technological components around. In the center of the cylindrical chamber was a wire skeleton, enormous and unsettling. As the green alien watched, the drones began to insert the carbon sinew with startling efficiency, as if filling a donut with jelly. As she watched the limb fit into place on the outline, she nodded with satisfaction. That was coming along nicely. Now, she had a chance to check on her side project.

Pressing an icon on one of the holographic screens on the dashboard, the alien used her cybernetically enhanced hand to quickly type in a password. Once she did, the fuel calculations and other measurements displayed vanished. In their place was a small, rotating model of some kind of orb. Not just any orb, but the planet Earth. Inside of the model there was a big red dot, slowly pulsing. A constant stream of near-indecipherable numbers was ticking up on the side of the globe.

It was growing more and more erratic by the day. She began to wonder if any humans, or any _thing,_ for that matter, would survive. Maybe, at the very least… No. No matter which way she read the numbers it just didn't add up. If it was allowed to percolate and then come to its full formation… That would be the end. She just wondered how long they had until then.

As Peridot's eyes flicked back and forth between the model and the data, the door to her lab suddenly slid open. Her heart pounding, the cybernetic gem swiped away the entire display, prompting the return of the fuel measurements. She was just in time, and as soon as the globe had disappeared, a strange trio entered the room. In the lead was a small, red alien. A Ruby. Flanking her were two large, orange drones. Unlike the smaller, builder drones that Peridot commanded, these were war drones. Her boss's personal guard.

"What do you want?" Peridot said, crossing her arms and looking down at the Ruby, ignoring the towering, silent robots.

"Lord Vilgax requires an update," the red gem said, her voice monotone and dull. Her eyes, too, were sunken and distant. Her condition was worsening, Peridot noticed. She shook her head.

"Another one? I already told him, this isn't something you can just rush. He's essentially asking for a fully functional exoskeleton. Plus, have you seen his list of required features?" Peridot asked, knowing that the Ruby would not answer. "It's not like I'm just making a pair of limb enhancers here."

"When will the body to be ready?" The Ruby said, seemingly unmoved by anything her green counterpart had said. Peridot rolled her eyes with a sigh.

"Soon," she said. "Within the Terran week."

"You know what happens if you disappoint."

With that, the Ruby simply turned and left as soon as she gained the knowledge she was tasked with. In a way, she was even more robotic in her movement than the drone that flanked her. As they left, and the lab door slid closed, Peridot waited a few moments before sighing and turning back to her private research.

She was starting to miss her bathroom.

* * *

"...Bismuth? Is it really you?"

The towering, grey-skinned gem stopped suddenly at the sound of, apparently, her name. She turned around just as Steven looked past her, and they both found themselves staring at three more gems. Luckily, Steven recognized them. Weirdly, so did this new gem. It was Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl. Standing behind them, forgettable in comparison, was the human form of Luong Lao Shi, Jake's grandfather. They had walked off of a snow-capped warp pad.

"Pearl? What are you doing here?" The two of them said at the same time. Then, they swapped a confused glance.

Pearl's eyes widened under furrowed brows, Amethyst raised a single white brow, looking lost, and Garnet slightly shifted her glasses.

"We, uh, were looking for Steven," Pearl started to explain, gesturing to the boy (but never taking her eyes off of Bismuth.

"Oh, is these are _your_ humans?" Bismuth said, looking at Steven and Jake. "That makes a lotta sense, actually!"

"No, he's not ours," Pearl said, gesturing to Jake. "I… How did you-?"

Garnet then walked forward, and clamped a large hand down on Bismuth's shoulder. The two were similar in stature, but Bismuth had more weight in her arms and pecs, whereas Garnet's weight was more heavily distributed to her legs. As Garnet approached, Bismuth cracked a grin, and returned the one-armed embrace.

"Big G!" She said.

"We thought you were shattered," Garnet said. Bismuth snorted, and slugged Garnet in the arm, prompting finally a grin from the permafusion.

"Who, me? Pshh. Homeworld couldn't lay a scratch on this gem."

"Oh, it's so good to see you!" Pearl squealed, dashing forward now to throw her arms around the large, grey gem. Bismuth was surprised for a moment, but continued to smile lopsidedly as she held the slender gem at arm's length.

"Woah, hey," she said. "The Pearl I remember would never have thrown herself into my arms like that."

Pearl met her eyes, and her cheeks went bright blue. She gave Bismuth one last squeeze before retreating a couple steps back so stand by Garnet. At this point, Amethyst had walked over to stand by Steven and Jake, and the three of them were looking on in confusion.

"A lot has changed," Pearl started to say, rubbing her arm. "You've been gone so long…"

"How long?" Bismuth asked, frowning as she realized she wasn't sure. Before Pearl could respond, though, Amethyst interrupted.

"Hey, this is great and all, but… Who is this?" She said.

"Oh, of course!" Pearl said. "You've never met. Guys, this is Bismuth. She was a friend of ours during the Gem War."

"Woah! You fought in the Gem War?" Steven said. Bismuth rolled her shoulders and cracked her neck with a bit of self-importance.

"Heck yeah, I did," she said, striding forward towards the entrance to the forge. The group followed in tow, listening to her talk. "I made all the material weapons, armor, and equipment that the Crystal Gems used for the rebellion."

"Without Bismuth, there wouldn't have _been_ a rebellion," Garnet chimed in.

"Oh, stop," Bismuth said cheekily, putting her hands on her hips as she approached the unlit forge. "How'd that all go, by the way? Did we win?"

"We did," Pearl said, a bit of melancholy sneaking into her voice. Bismuth was too distracted by her forge to notice, however.

"Good!" She said, moving over to the bellows. She turned a few cranks and pumped a few levers, and soon the forge was filled with a loud, grinding noise, as the gears of the machine sprung to life. Then, she went over to another crank and turned it. Slowly, an orange glow bathed the interior of the forge. She had revealed the magma, hidden beneath hardened layers of igneous rock. She grinned as she looked down at the molten rock, and then turned back to the others. "Who wants an upgrade?"

None of the gem's volunteered, so Bismuth chuckled and pointed to Amethyst.

"How about you, deep-cut? Watcha packin'?" She asked.

"Mm? Oh, just this old thing," Amethyst said, producing her whip from the gem in her chest. Bismuth walked over and peered at it, and silently requested to take it. Amethyst handed the weapon to her, and Bismuth winked before turning around.

"Psst, Pearl," Steven said, whispering to the slender gem. "What do Bismuth's do?"

"Glad you asked, small fry," Bismuth said heartily, having easily overheard.

She looked down into the forge, which was now bubbling up with lava, and nodded. Then, she reached into a nearby bucket and grabbed to fistfuls of metal ingots. Then, to Steven's surprise, she plunged both hands, metal and all, into the superheated liquid. However, she didn't seem phased at all by the heat. In fact, her grin only widened as she suddenly produced a worked piece of steel, shaped and altered into some kind of weapon part. She had wrought it from the raw metal with her bare hands. Jake raised his eyebrows.

"Woah," he said, "that's dope!"

"Just wait," Bismuth said confidently, moving over to a huge, dark anvil nearby. She lay the still glowing metal down onto the smooth surface, and once again shapeshifted her fist into a massive grey hammerhead. Then, she began to slam the hammer-hand down, further shaping the metal into various, small, spiked blades.

"I love this part," Pearl said.

"Homeworld used us Bismuth's to make spires and temples for the gem elites," the gem smith said, taking the hot metal blades to a trough of water and dousing it with a satisfying _hissssss._ "But Rose… She showed me that I could be whatever I wanted. Do whatever I wanted. _Choose_ whatever I wanted… So I chose this."

Steven's heart wrenched a little at the mention of Rose, and to his confusion he saw Jake's fist clench and his lips purse. However, he was easily distracted by how cool and skillful the gem smith was. Her metalworking abilities were starting to give him an idea. Bismuth was now hard at work connecting her metal constructions to the whip that Amethyst had provided her. It didn't take long, and soon she had created a morningstar-like bludgeons that she fastened to the ends of her whip, creating a dangerous flail.

"Here ya go," Bismuth said, handing off the upgraded weapon to Amethyst, who looked it over with a muted sense of impression. Brushing off her hands, Bismuth turned to face Garnet and Pearl, a satisfied look in her eyes. "Speakin' of Rose, where is she? Probably back at the base with the rest of the crew, right? Aw man, I can't wait to talk to Biggs and Crazy Lace… It's been too long."

The two other gems shifted awkwardly, unsure of who was going to tell her. Eventually, it was Garnet who stepped forward.

"Bismuth… They're gone," she said. Bismuth blinked. "I don't know how else to tell you. We're… We're all that's left."

As the reality of her words took hold, Bismuth swayed. It was odd, to see such a powerful seeming gem look weak. She had to place a hand on a pillar to keep upright, and Pearl and Garnet both tried to get closer to offer assurance or comfort. She waved them away, and turned around. For a few moments, she stood off to the side, alone and silent. At one point, she kicked an iron helmet across the forge, causing it to rattle across the floor when it landed. The onlookers let her grieve. After many long, painful minutes, she came back to the group.

"I'm sorry..." Pearl said.

"No," Bismuth said, fighting back tears with her sheer will. "No, I am… I've been gone for so long. I don't- I don't even remember what took me out. I shoulda been there, fighting with you… Damn it!"

"Don't talk like that," Garnet said, sternly grabbing the other gem by the shoulder and forcing her to lock eyes. "We never could have done it without you. What happened wasn't your fault."

"Crazy Lace, Snowflake… Even Biggs," Bismuth said.

As they were comforting Bismuth, Steven felt something vibrate in his back pocket. Reaching in and producing his phone, he discovered that he had gotten a text from Connie. It read: _Did u feel that quake? Getting bigger… Another GM?_ Reading over the text, Steven didn't even notice Jake leaning over his shoulder, reading along.

"What's a GM? General manager?" He said, quiet enough that only Steven could hear. The half-gem jumped slightly as he registered Jake's presence.

"Gem Monster," He said, flipping his phone closed and pocketing it. Jake's expression grew serious.

"I think we both know what that means," he said. He jerked his head almost imperceptively towards the gems. "Do they know yet?"

Steven shook his head no.

"Well, perhaps it is time _they_ do, hm?" Came another voice.

Both boys yelped and jumped, neither having realized that Lao Shi had crept up on both of them. The man, for his venerated status, was surprisingly stealthy, and Jake knew that his hearing belied his old age. Lao Shi chuckled, amused by his ability to surprise the youngsters.

"What is it?" Garnet asked, revealing that the gems had all turned towards them at the sound of Steven's yelp.

"Oh, it seems that the boys have discovered some information that they were just about to share with us," Lao Shi said. "Right, boys?"

The boys gulped.

"Well?" Pearl said. "What is it?"

With some reluctance, Steven went on to explain everything that he had learned from the captive Peridot earlier that summer. He explained what he knew about the Cluster, how it worked, and how the multi-limbed horrors that were sprouting up recently were prototypes of the real thing. He told them about Peridot's half-baked plan to stop it. He even told them about the text he had just received, and his minor theory about how the quakes that had been happening all summer were from the Cluster, and not an isolated gem monster. When he was finished and out of breath, Steven looked at the gems, expecting some kind of retribution for keeping the information secret. Instead, they all seemed to nod.

"So, your theory about the kindergarten was right, Garnet," Amethyst said. Garnet nodded gravely.

"Apparently so," she said.

"Sounds like all you need is a good drill," Bismuth said. "I betcha Pearl and I could pump one out if we got the right materials together."

"I'm flattered," Pearl said earnestly, "but I doubt we'll be able to find 'the right materials'. Humans haven't even figured out how to drill to their planet's core yet. They're working with stuff that's still archaic to Homeworld standards from when _we_ were there."

"Peridot said that we'd be doomed," Steven said glumly. "'Cuz we don't have the right technology."

 _Or the power,_ he thought to himself. He had carefully omitted the part where, even if they did get down into the crust to where the Cluster was, they would need an impossible amount of power to seal it away. A Diamond's power. There was no such gem on the planet. At least, Steven hoped not.

"To be fair, not all human's are using _just human tech,"_ she said. "Remember the guys at the fountain?"

Steven's eyes sparkled.

"Oh, oh! Galra tech!" He said. Bismuth looked genuinely shocked.

"Waitaminute," she said, pointing a beefy finger at Steven. "You know Galra? You been to Daibazaal?"

"What's _that?"_ Steven asked excitedly. Bismuth looked to Pearl for an explanation.

"He know's the word," Pearl explained. "We ran into a sect of human's using modified alien technology. Some of it was Galra. All of it was scrapped."

"Human's with Galra tech… How did they even get their hands on it? Let alone figure out how it works."

"A lot has changed since you've been gone," Garnet said. "The Galra aren't stuck on their homeworld anymore, and the humans are no longer as primitive as we often chock them up to be."

Bismuth seemed to reconcile with this, her knowledge sundered, while Pearl comforted her. Lao Shi listened on intently, sensing that there was more on the horizon, and Jake tried to mimic his passive-but-focused demeanor. He only sort of managed to pull it off. Eventually, it was Amethyst who continued to drive the point home.

"That's just it. If there's _one_ group using modified alien tech… Who's to say there aren't more?" She said, looking off to the side. Garnet raised an eyebrow.

"What aren't you telling us?" She asked. Amethyst gave a little nervous laugh, rubbing her neck beneath her mane of white hair.

"Heh," she said. "Well. A while ago I was flying around the temple and I spotted this weird piece of tech. Some kind of spy drone. I figured it was probably a leftover peri-bot or something, so I trashed it and stuck it in my room."

"Oh, _no,"_ Pearl said at the mention of Amethyst's fabled room. Amethyst pulled down an eyelid and stuck her tongue out at the slender gem, but continued.

"Like I said, at first I thought it was new age Gem Tech or something. Looked way too alien to be a human device… But, now I'm thinking it might just be another group of humans who got their hands on some space junk. Maybe we can hot-wire it for 'return-to-sender' and follow it. It either leads us to Peridot or it leads us to some human's with tech that might help us. Either way is a win, to me."

They all pondered the option. It was making more and more sense they more they considered it. Steven looked to Garnet, who seemed pensive, and then to Pearl, who was clearly doing some mental calculations.

"I could do it," she said. "Most likely if its human tech they'll have significantly simplified the coding to get it to pair well with their own operating software… Which, in the ley, means I could hack it with relative ease."

"But who's to say we're not walking into another fight?" Garnet said. "We'd better be ready. If it _is_ Peridot, she definitely won't come quietly, and something tells me that the human's won't take too kindly to us intruding on their tech and privacy."

"They're just gonna have to deal with it," Amethyst said. "Unless they want the planet to blow up."

She had a fair point, but the bluntness with which she put it left Jake and Steven reeling once more at the gravity of the situation. She sheepishly gave an apologetic smile to the two boys, and then looked back to the gems and their sort of war council. She and Pearl were now just waiting for Garnet to sign off on the idea. The large, burgundy gem turned to Lao Shi and Jake, first.

"Well, Dragons, what do you say? Feel like helping us save the world?" She said. Jake grinned, balling up his fists, and Lao Shi nodded sagely. Garnet let a little, dimpled smile perk up in the corner of her lips. "Alright. That settles it then. Let's go see who we're dealing with."


	7. Worlds Collide

**Author's Note:** _Hello, and welcome to Danger Watch's inaugural...._

**_LATE. NIGHT. CHAPTER._ **

_Things are heating up as tensions rise between some unexpected forces! I hope you're enjoying the story so far, and thanks for reading! Let's jump right in._

* * *

**Chapter Seven - Worlds Collide**

"Did you know that pixies are real?"

Ben groaned audibly.

"No, they aren't," he said.

"Yeah-huh," Gwen said, flipping around her large, leather bound book so that the pages were facing her cousin. Ben could hardly be bothered to shift his gaze towards the drawings and notation there. Gwen made an annoyed face with him. "You know, this stuff might end up being pretty useful to you some day. You might want to know that a pixie can make you see things that aren't there."

"Oh, great, I'll be sure to store that in my brain! Right next to what to do in case there's a _dragon attack,"_ Ben said, rolling his eyes.

He and Gwen were now sitting out on the grass in front of the Hinobi Base, watching the Glitch Techs work. Despite their general annoyance with one another on a frequent basis, the two of them were close in age and family. Thus, they had spent a lot of their time in this unfamiliar place together, to soften the blow. Neither would admit it, but they both felt more comfortable with each other than they had at the beginning of the summer. Gwen snorted.

"You'd better hope you don't get attacked by a dragon," she said. "Every creature written about in the journal seems to have at least some respect for them. They're the top dog of the magical world."

"I bet I could take one," Ben said haughtily, nursing the machine that was stuck to his wrist.

He glanced down at the Omnitrix, and was tempted to use it. As if reading his mind, there was a quiet chirp, and the cylindrical button popped out of the watch. Gwen quirked an eyebrow at him and he grinned like a kid with his hand caught in the cookie jar. She just shook her head, going back to perusing the pages of the book. Ben felt a tingle on the back of his neck, and turned around to see that a figure was floating in the air above him, slightly blocking the sun.

Ben squinted at the shape, and then rolled his eyes as he realized it was Jenny. She was 'keeping an eye on him.' Neither of them were happy about it. The boy stuck out his tongue at her as the button retracted back into the cyber-watch, and the deadpan android girl made an obscene gesture at him in return, which made Gwen snort to hide a small laugh. As they were glaring at each other in annoyance, one of Jenny's twin tail's suddenly twitched and started to rotated on her head. Then, her eyes contracted into deadly points, and before Ben could react, she suddenly flew off, shooting through the air and fading into the distance.

"What the-?" Ben started to say.

Seconds later, an alarm began to sound from inside of the Hinobi base. Gwen and Ben swapped nervously glances and then jumped to their feet, looking around and cautiously moving towards the entrance of the building. They both jumped as two figures came up quickly behind them, grabbing them by the arms. To Gwen's surprise, it was Agent's Five and Miko.

"Hey! Let me go!" Ben growled, struggling and trying to reach for the Omnitrix.

"Dude- Kid! Quit it!" Five said, as he wrestled to calm the frantic 12-year-old, and keep his hand away from the watch. "Calm down! We need to get you both inside. We have multiple flying objects inbound!"

Ben blinked to his senses, and he and Gwen allowed themselves to be dragged inside, and ushered away through the flashing hallways and back towards their room. Once they arrived, Miko quickly barred the door and Five shuttered the windows. Gwen and Ben stood off in a corner, looking around in confusion. Gwen's was tinged with fear. Ben's with annoyance. Miko made her way across the room and peeked through the blinds.

"Can you see anything?"

"Shut up, Five."

"Let me look."

"No."

"What's-"

"Five, shut _up!"_

Gwen and Ben swapped another glance, as they took into account the fact that these two were supposed to be their assigned guardians. Gwen gulped, and Ben placed his nose promptly into his palm.

They were doomed.

* * *

After a few minutes of digging around in Amethyst's room, the gems and dragons managed to resurface the probe that she had captured. As she had suspected, Pearl confirmed that it was not in the design of the Gem Homeworld, nor did it use any similar tech. A few more minutes of tinkering brought the spy drone back to life, and a brief spat of hacking provided its home location to Pearl's meticulous, prodding fingers. The location, from what she could tell by its rudimentary GPS, wasn't near any active warp pads. The nearest one was miles away. They would have to warp and then do some flying.

So, now, they were soaring through the air. Jake and Lao Shi, with their mighty gift of flight, acted as ferry for Steven, Bismuth and Pearl respectively. Amethyst, meanwhile transformed into a mighty, purple bird, and bore Garnet on her back. As they flew, Pearl had Bismuth's arms around her waist for support, and was monitoring a makeshift tracker she had fashioned from the remains of the spy drone. Nobody seemed to notice her cheeks twinge periwinkle as the two gems flew upon Lao Shi.

Amethyst and Garnet ended up taking point. They were accustomed to working together, and moved faster than the others (Lao Shi with two passengers and the inexperienced Jake unaccustomed to bearing any). As they soared across the rolling hills, puncturing fluffy clouds as they did, the lavender bird and her burgundy passenger began to scope out the area for defenses or dangers.

"See anything?" Amethyst called up.

"You're the one with the bird eyes," Garnet quipped coolly. Amethyst snorted a laugh.

" _Touch_ _é_ _,_ " she said, turning back to focus her attention on the ground. Unfortunately, she should have been looking straight ahead. "I don't see anythi- Woah!"

Looking up at the last moment, the Amethyst barely stopped herself from jousting directly into another flying object. She paused, flapping her mighty wings veer off and do a lazy loop around the area. As she did, she and Garnet got a better look at what they were up against. Appearing like a bolt of white light was some kind of android. Rocket-fire, burning white hot, was shooting out of the soles of her mechanical feet, propelling her to float in the air. She stood with her arms crossed, her head swiveling on a gyro to keep pace with them in a creepy, mechanical way.

"What the heck is _that?"_ Amethyst said.

"Don't know," Garnet said, "stay on your guard."

"This is Global Response Unit XJ-9," the android said, her voice carrying as if it were coming out of a loudspeaker. "Alien lifeforms, stand down, and submit to custody."

"Like hell we will," Amethyst muttered, continuing to do figure-8's in the air while they pondered the situation. "What's the plan, G?"

Garnet grimaced, but didn't respond. She was focused on the robot. As they continued their aerial pacing, some kind of weapon protruded from the XJ-9's shoulder, and a red dot sight suddenly trained itself on Amethyst's side.

"Woah, woah! Red laser, red laser!"

"Submit to custody and we will resolve this peacefully," the robot said, her voice coming out with a cold edge, despite its oddly human characteristics. "Come any closer, and I will have no choice but to resort to more forceful means."

"We don't want to fight!" Garnet called down. However, her voice was drowned out by a duet of battle cries.

All three of them turned to see a brick red torpedo come flying into the scene. Jake, with Steven aboard, came zooming into view. The dragon reared back a fist, as if he were coming in to punch the android in the face. Steven held on for dear life. With no hesitation, the laser sight swiveled from being trained on the gems to being trained on Jake and Steven. Garnet and Amethyst shouted out in dismay as the laser blast went off.

"Steven!" Garnet roared. Amethyst dive bombed towards the smoke cloud that had resulted from the robot's attack. Blowing through the smoke layer, they saw Jake and Steven plummeting towards the surface below. "Amethyst!"

"On it!" Amethyst said.

Garnet, who by this point was crouched on Amethyst's back, used her as a springboard, propelling herself through the air and towards the XJ-9. The android, caught by surprise as her sensors scanned the obscuring smoke, received a powerful, smashing punch to the face from Garnet's gauntlet. The impact sent her blasting back, leaving a brief disturbance in the clouds as she went, until she faded from view, leaving only a faint dust cloud to mark her crash.

Then, Garnet dropped into a freefall. She spread her arms out and connected her legs, creating a graceful swan dive that caught the air as she fell. The wind whipped her sunglasses off of her face, but she snatched them quickly with two fingers, and held onto them as she continued to fall. She saw, far below, that Amethyst had recovered Steven. Jake, too, seemed to be coming back from the blast, though weaker, and in no shape to carry anyone. That left Garnet falling closer and closer to solid ground by the moment. At this speed, she'd surely shatter on impact. She closed her eyes and grit her teeth, waiting… Waiting...

 _Woosh!_ Garnet suddenly felt the wind knocked from her abdomen as she was caught by something sleek and textured. Snapping her eyes open, she found that she was now sprawled out over the back of the midnight dragon, Lao Shi. Bismuth and Pearl looked back at her with concern, and she quickly repositioned herself into a seated position.

"Thank you, Master Dragon!" Garnet called up to Lao Shi, who nodded his mighty head.

"Who shot first?" Pearl asked. Garnet bared her teeth, putting her sunglasses back on her face and pushing them up with two fingers.

"Them," she said. "We don't have time for the semantics. If we're gonna stop the Cluster, any wasted time could mean the end of humanity. If it has to be this way, so be it!"

They all nodded. Every member of that flight was a veteran, an experienced fighter, capable of making difficult decisions. They took no pleasure in destroying, and as they flew towards the robot's crash-site there was only hardened faces of resignation.

As they hunkered in their room, waiting for the 'all-clear', the last thing Ben and Gwen expected was for an android to come smashing through their window. They were now waiting impatiently, arms crossed, watched over by the vigilant Hammer Agents. One moment, Five was trying to make a joke about beans; the next, glass and steel were flying in every direction, and what had once been a wall was suddenly open air. Every person in the room was blasted to the floor.

Gwen recovered first, having been furthest from the debris. Looking around the destroyed room, she spotted Ben, and quickly helped him to his feet. He was lightly scraped from broken glass, but otherwise fine. Then, the two of them looked around for the source of the explosion, and found Jenny, on her back, a crater made from destroyed window behind her. There was a small scuff mark on the bridge of her nose.

"Jenny!" Gwen shouted, dashing over to her.

The android waved her hands away and stood on her own, her twin tails swiveling as she recalibrated her balance, her eyes staring back out the window she had come crashing through. Then, suddenly, Jenny turned towards a pile of smashed wall, and tilted her head. With a quick heave of her mighty limbs, she displaced the debris, revealing Five and Miko beneath, gasping for air. She helped the two tech's up, thankful that they had sustained no serious injuries.

"Jenny, what happened?" Five panted. The XJ-9 turned once more towards the sky, and frowned. The flying objects were close enough that they could see them visually now. Some kind of huge serpentine creature, as well as a strange menagerie of other alienoid beings. Gwen gulped, and Ben blinked in surprise.

"Gotta go," Jenny said. She turned to Ben and pointed an accusatory finger at him, much to his chagrin. "You. stay put! These are dangerous aliens! Mom will _flip!"_

Then, her rocket thrusters activated and she kicked off, flying up into the sky once again. As they watched her fly away, the two Agent's didn't hear the sound of the Omnitrix button protruding from the watch until it was too late. Gwen, however, did.

"Ben, wait," she started to say. This prompted Miko and Five to turn around. Then, their eyes flew wide, as they saw Ben's hand hovering over the watch.

"Wait, stop! Director Wakeman said that-"

"I don't care what she said. I gotta get out there and help fight!" Ben said indignantly. Then, as they moved to try and stop him, he slammed his palm down on the dial. "Heatblast!"

There was a blinding flash of green light, causing the other trio in the room to throw up their arms to shield themselves from it. As the light died down, and they blinked back their vision, they turned anxiously to see what had become of Ben. First they heard the low, rumbling growl. Then, their noses picked up on the pungent, canine stench. Finally, they were able to see the tawny fur, the wicked claws, the pulsing, fleshy gills.

"Um, Ben…" Gwen said, as the beast that was her cousin continued to snarl. "That's Wildmutt."


End file.
